Saturday papers – 18 August 2018

Brexit

The Express reports a relaunch.

BREXIT pressure group Leave Means Leave is to be relaunched next month in an attempt to force Theresa May into pushing for a clearer break with the EU, leading Eurosceptics said last night.
The organisation, which grew out of the Vote Leave campaign from the EU referendum, is planning a nationwide blitz to rally opposition to the Prime Minister’s plan for close custom links with Brussels.
Insiders say donations totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds have been collected in recent weeks for the group’s war chest.

The Guardian reports on the latest legal challenge.

Government lawyers have been given a two-week deadline to respond to the latest legal challenge  over the legitimacy of the Brexit vote.
A judicial review has been launched by the UK in EU Challenge group, which represents Britons living in France, Italy and Spain.
It argues that the Electoral Commission’s findings on BeLeave and Vote Leave, which resulted in two officials being reported to the police and fines being imposed, mean the 2016 EU referendum was not a lawful, fair or free vote.

Several of the media report on the governments forthcoming briefing documents. The Mail says:

The government is preparing to publish more than 80 reports on the possible consequences of a no-deal Brexit, leaked reports suggest.
The papers are expected to be released over the course of the next month and will cover areas ranging from aviation safety to animal breeding to gun regulations.
They have been drawn up by government departments across Whitehall as the prospect of the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal edges closer.

The Express also has details of the papers.

THERESA MAY is set to publish a series of papers from next week covering 84 separate policy areas, outlining how Whitehall is preparing for the possibility of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, according to leaked files.
The reports, acquired by BuzzFeed News, will cover issues including aviation security, batch testing of medicines, and work place rights.
The list has been compiled from Government departments across Whitehall, and will outline the wide-ranging impacts of Brexit on all areas of British life.

Conservative Party

It seems that the Tories’ numbers are swelling, reports Westmonster.

Brexiteers are signing up to the Conservative Party in anticipation of a future leadership contest for the heart and soul of Brexit.
Leave.EU have been tapping into their huge social media following with tweets such as: “Take back control of the party by electing a true conservative Brexiteer when the time comes!  https://www.conservatives.com/join”
The responses show that it is having a clear impact.

But Order-Order claims that could be fake news.

The wet Tory Reform Group is trying to weaponise an attention seeking Leave.EU tweet implying 10,000 of its ‘members’ have joined the Tories. The remainers at the TRG see it as a useful recruitment tool for themselves…
Guido would advise that anyone falling for the  TRG/Leave.EU spin should take a look at the full list of things Arron Banks has promised that never happened: Judicial review of EU referendum designation; BPopLive; Hollywood movie about Brexit; Invoicing UKIP £200,000; Patriotic Alliance; Clacton candidacy; Pirate radio station in Clacton; Fielding candidates to oust 100 MPs; Draining the Swamp at the next election; Bankrolling the Andrea Leadsom leadership campaign; Suing Vote Leave’s CEO Matthew Elliott; Buying Guido lunch.

EU

The bloc is urged to start making provisions for ‘no deal’, reports the Express.

THE European Union should start stockpiling drugs and “very quickly agree” on sharing its drug safety and infectious disease databases unless it wants to put “patients at risk”, the head of the UK pharmaceutical industry association said.
The EU27 are far behind the UK in their preparation for a no-deal Brexit, especially in their drugs stockpiles, according to Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).
Mr Thompson told Politico the UK government has worked together with drug firms to stockpile medicines, as confirmed last month to the House of Commons by the UK’s health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock.

And Breitbart reports a potential financial problem in Europe.

The Greek government has warned that it could face “increased financial and political instability” in the near term if the United Kingdom left the European Union without a deal, handing British negotiators potentially useful leverage.
The claim comes in a Greek government paper which points to the hole in the European Union budget that could be created if the commission fails to offer Britain a good deal — precipitating Britain leaving the EU without paying the so-called Brexit divorce bill.

Farage

Meanwhile, our former leader, who promised to return to front-line politics if we don’t get a clean Brexit, is planning to fulfil that promise, says the Mail.

Nigel Farage will return to front line politics to try and kill off Theresa May’s Brexit plans, he announced last night.
The former Ukip leader is to travel around the country attacking the Chequers proposal which he describes as ‘fraudulent’.
The move will cause concern in Tory high command and spark fears Mr Farage is planning a new political party to win the votes of disaffected Brexiteers.
Last night Mr Farage said Britain’s political classes are guilty of ‘lies, deceit and treachery’ and ‘the time has come to teach them a lesson – one that they will never forget’.

Sky News also reports on the return.

Nigel Farage is returning to frontline politics to challenge what he describes as Theresa May’s “fraudulent” Brexit plan.
The former UKIP leader said he would be part of a battle bus tour by the Leave Means Leave group to oppose the prime minister’s proposals.
Mr Farage wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “Over the last few months, and particularly since the Chequers betrayal, scores of people have stopped me in the street to ask: ‘When are you coming back?’
“Well now you have your answer: I’m back.”
Mr Farage said Theresa May’s Chequers blueprint would not enable the UK to take back control of its borders and fishing rights and to strike free trade deals around the world.

The Independent reports that he has turned his ire on both Houses of Parliament.

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage is to lend his support to a hard-Brexit campaign group, he has said.
Farage accused MPs and the Lords of refusing to enact the result of the 2016 EU referendum and said he would join forces with the property tycoon Richard Tice to argue against Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal.
Farage has backed the Leave Means Leave campaign Tice runs with John Longworth, the former head of the British Chambers of Commerce.

BBC News also reports on his plans.

Nigel Farage has said he is going “back on the road” to campaign against the prime minister’s Brexit plan.
Writing for the Daily Telegraph, the UKIP MEP said Theresa May’s Chequers agreement was a “sell-out” because it included regulatory alignment with the European Union.
He added he would join Eurosceptic group Leave Means Leave at a series of public events across the UK.

ITV News reports on Farage’s ‘battle bus’.

Nigel Farage has announced his return to frontline political engagement, joining a campaign to overthrow Theresa May’s “fraudulent” Brexit blueprint.
The former Ukip leader said he would be “back on the road”, taking part in a battle bus tour by the Leave Means Leave group to oppose the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he said he had decided to act as it had become clear the “political class in Westminster” was determined to frustrate the 2016 referendum vote to leave he European Union.

Anti-semitism

The Mirror reports on the anti-semitism row.

UKIP was tonight dragged into the anti-Semitism row.
The party has been urged to accept the globally recognised definition of anti-Semitism.
But senior figures blocked the move, claiming members’ free speech should not be restricted, according to emails leaked to the Daily Mirror.
Elizabeth Jones, a member of Ukip’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), wrote: “No way. We are the party of free speech. We cannot sign any document that restricts that position.”
The row erupted after another NEC member, Pat Bryant, suggested signing up to the anti abuse pledge, because it would convince members the party’s opposition to ritual slaughter was not fuelled by anti-Semitism.

FGM

The problem of female genital mutilation is highlighted in the Mail.

A three-year-old girl needed emergency surgery after a man and a woman allegedly carried out a botched female genital mutilation at their home in east London.
The man, 42 and woman, 36, each face five charges – also including possession of extreme pornographic images of people having sex with animals.
The pair, who are not being named at this stage for legal reasons, appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court today.
Both are accused of FGM and failing to protect a girl from risk of genital mutilation on August 28 last year.

Breitbart also has the story.

A three-year-old girl was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after a botched female genital mutilation procedure in Sadiq Khan’s London.
A 42-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman, both understood to be of African background, are due in court to be charged with FGM offences after the incident was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command, according to the London Evening Standard.
The Africans are accused of having “excised, infibulated or otherwise mutilated the whole or a part of a girl’s labia minora and clitoris”, as well as offences related to “extreme pornography” — namely images of child abuse and bestiality.

Prisons

A minister has pledged to make improvements or quit. The Times reports:

The prisons minister has pledged to resign unless ten jails targeted for special measures to tackle drugs and violence show a reduction in assaults.
Rory Stewart made his commitment after announcing a £10 million package of measures intended to drive up standards in ten of the most challenging prisons in England and Wales. The prisons concerned have all struggled with drug use and violence, the Ministry of Justice says.

The Independent also reports on the promise.

The prisons minister has vowed to quit his job if he fails to reduce the levels violence and drug use in problem-hit jails.
Rory Stewart made the pledge as he launched a £10m campaign to tackle “acute” issues in 10 prisons.
It comes after recent official figures showed self-harm incidents and assaults in jails were at record levels and an increasing amount of drugs and number of mobile phones are being found in cells.

Education

It looks like schools are dumbing down exams. The Mail reports:

The new GCSE qualifications are set to be embroiled in another marking row as data suggests grade boundaries could be up to 18 percentage points lower than last year.
In the higher tier maths paper, entrants may only need to get 17 per cent in order to score a C.
The new GCSEs were pioneered by former education secretary Michael Gove in an effort to drive up standards, and the first pupils to sit them will pick up their results on Thursday.

The Times reports the exams will be harder.

Grade boundaries for GCSEs are expected to be lower this year so that candidates are not penalised for being guinea pigs.
Teenagers who took GCSEs this year were the first to sit new, harder qualifications for the bulk of their subjects after changes brought in by Michael Gove, the former education secretary.
All will be graded 9 to 1 instead of A* to G, and pupils have also faced tougher content, less coursework, no modules, and exams after two years of study.

Armed forces

Troops could be at medical risk, says the Mail.

British troops are at serious risk due to chaos in IT systems at military surgeries across the country, it was claimed today.
Armed forces doctors are said to be routinely locked out of patient records, raising the danger that people could get the wrong drugs or miss vaccines.
The UK’s 150,000 full-time members of the army, navy and RAF are cared for by around 500 GPs separately from the NHS.
But senior figures have voiced alarm at the state of the computer systems, with one telling The Times they were ‘the biggest threat to patient safety that I have encountered in my 20-year career’.

And, in more positive news, a new ship is on the water, says the Mail.

The Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is to set sail for the US where it will land fighter jets on its flight deck for the first time – and chiefs have pledged they will be wary of Russian threat.
The landmark moment will come eight years since a fast jet last flew from a British aircraft carrier.
The 65,000-tonne carrier is expected to leave Portsmouth Naval Base at about 6pm on Saturday and naval chiefs have pledged that HMS Queen Elizabeth will have the protection needed against the ‘eye-watering’ threat from Russia and other powers around the world.

Childhood diabetes

Overweight children are at risk from diabetes, says the Times.

The number of children and teenagers needing specialist treatment for type 2 diabetes has risen by 40 per cent in four years, in the latest evidence of the toll that obesity is taking on the younger generation.
More than 700 under-20s were seen by paediatric diabetes units for type 2 of the condition, which is largely driven by weight. This includes about a dozen patients under the age of ten already so ill that they need hospital care.
One in ten children are obese when they start primary school, rising to one in five when they leave.

And the Mail has picked up the story.

Children as young as nine are being treated for type 2 diabetes in a devastating consequence of the obesity crisis.
Doctors are reporting a surge in cases among children and teenagers – whereas 20 years ago the illness had only ever been seen in adults.
A national audit shows the number of under-25s being treated for the condition has increased by 40 per cent in just three years.

Environment

The Telegraph reports on a forthcoming tax on plastics.

A plastic tax will soon be introduced by the government to curb the use of non-recyclable plastic items such as drinking straws, single use cutlery and black food trays, ministers have indicated.
The Treasury is working on the details of a new and wide-reaching plastic tax  which is expected to be announced in the next Budget.
The levy is likely to be applied to businesses producing “bad” plastics to encourage them to switch to more environmentally friendly materials, which are less damaging to the earth. 

And the Times reports retail prices should not rise.

Shoppers will be spared direct taxes on plastic products after the government decided to reduce consumption of single-use plastic by targeting manufacturers.
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, will announce new taxes in the autumn budget designed to encourage manufacturers to use more recycled plastic in their products and discourage them from using packaging which is hard to recycle, such as black plastic food trays.
The Treasury had previously suggested that there could be new taxes on coffee cups and takeaway boxes, pointing to the success of the 5p charge on plastic carrier bags that has reduced their use by more than 80 per cent. Those ideas have been placed on hold.

The Mail calls it a ‘latte levy’.

Ministers are poised to slap a ‘latte levy’ on throwaway coffee cups after overwhelming public backing for radical action on waste.
Taxes could also be introduced on other single-use items as part of the war on plastic pollution.
A record 162,000 Britons responded to a Treasury consultation on how to deal with problem packaging and the vast majority supported action on disposable coffee cups and takeaway trays.
The unprecedented response means ministers will now use the Budget in the autumn to set out a range of tough measures.

The Guardian reports the popularity of the proposals.

An unprecedented number of people have backed tough action against plastic waste in a government consultation that could pave the way for a series of fiscal measures in the autumn budget.
The government will say response is evidence that there is broad public support for reducing single-use plastic waste through measure such as a “latte levy” on coffee cups, similar to the plastic bag charge, and tax incentives for recycling.
There were more than 162,000 respondents to the Treasury’s call for evidence, including individuals, businesses and campaign groups, with the vast majority ­­­expressing support for action, the department said.

And the Mirror also reports on the public’s response.

Chancellor Philip Hammond is set to announce new taxes to tackle plastic pollution, after an “overwhelming” public response backed plans to reduce waste.
The Treasury asked people to get in touch with ideas about how the government can eliminate plastic waste, and received an “unprecedented” 162,000 responses – the highest ever.
The ideas, published today, range from encouraging greater use of recycled plastic to reducing demand for single-use plastics like coffee cups using the tax system.

The Sun outlines other products that could be involved.

FIRMS selling single-use water bottles, takeaway boxes and coffee cups face a new “plastic tax”.
The move was announced by ministers last night.
Chancellor Philip Hammond will use the Autumn Budget to introduce the levy in a bid to encourage businesses to package food in recycled plastics.
He wants to avoid a direct tax on consumers such as the “Latte Levy” proposed by Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
But experts warn that firms are likely to pass on any hike in production costs to customers.

But the Express doubts that consumers will not be hit.

CHARGES are almost certain to be slapped on throwaway coffee cups, cutlery and sauce sachets this autumn in the drive to crack down on the scourge of plastic waste, the Treasury signalled last night.
Officials are drawing up plans for a tax on single-use items from takeaway food outlets similar to the 5p surcharge on carrier bags.
Some campaigners have already dubbed it the “latte levy” because of the anticipated impact on beverages from coffee chains.
Other items that could be affected could even include crisp and sweet packets, drink bottles and food packaging.